How Building Institutional Capacity Can Facilitate Inclusive Excellence in STEM
Examples from our Campus
Eliane Boucher, Department of Psychology Kathleen Cornely, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Lynne Lawson, Department of Engineering-Physics-Systems
Founded in 1917, Providence College is a private, coeducational, residential Roman Catholic university run under the auspices of the Dominican Friars.
Diversity initiatives at Providence College • First Strategic Plan for Diversity in
2010; first Chief Diversity Officer hired in Jan 2012. – Mission statement includes diversity – Training of Office of Safety & Security staff – PC joins Creating Connections Consortium – Campus climate focus groups – Science & Diversity Task Force – Faculty Diversity Initiative – Friar Foundations Program (a
summerbridge program) – Partnership with CCRI
Announced July 2015
Lucia Barker Former Program Officer SEA PHAGES program
HHMI
• Nov 12, 2015: Students of color hold a peaceful midnight march to protest racism on campus.
• A faculty member of color present at the march reports that students in the dorms yelled racial epithets at the marchers. – Complaints are filed; there is no public response. – Students present a list of demands to president Father
Shanley, who promises to meet with the students. • Feb 2, 2016: Five women students of color are
denied entrance to an off-campus party and allege that racial epithets and bottles were hurled at them as they left.
Diversity issues at Providence College
And while the faculty were reading the literature in their ivory towers….
• Students arrived at Harkins Hall at 8:30 am.
• They were asked to leave at 4:30 pm. They refused.
• The president promised a “complex plan of action” by the end of the semester.
• The students refused to leave until the president had signed a document listing their demands.
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• …which he did at 9:45 pm.
Faculty Seminar on Inclusive Excellence in the Sciences
• Goals – To identify and implement approaches that
promote student success in the sciences. • Opening workshop in June 2016. • Eight two-hour meetings during the
2016-2017 academic year. • Each participant received $3000.
– $1000 after the completion of the June workshop
– $2000 at the conclusion of the seminar; each participant was required to submit an inclusive excellence “product”.
PC did not advance to the next round for the HHMI Inclusive Excellence grant.
• STEM student survey • High impact practices
– Undergraduate research – Active learning/evidence-based pedagogies – Metacognitive learning strategies – Creating a positive classroom environment
• Infrastructure – STEM Zone staffed by post-docs in the evenings
• Alternative paths – Gateway and off-sequence courses – STEM component to Friar Foundation Program
• Points to ponder – Stereotype threat – OER
Products
A STEM Advisory Board will make recommendations to the Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences.
Our diversity landscape
• Despite improvements in diversifying our college population, our non-white students… – report more depressive symptoms,
and identify less with the college overall (Cote & Boucher, 2015)
– report more cynicism toward the meaning of school, and a greater sense of inadequacy at school (Kemp & Boucher, unpublished data)
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STEM majors & retention • Survey of students entering college with declared
STEM major conducted Spring 2017 – 249 respondents
• 68% female, 77% white, 84% continuing-generation
• 61 respondents (24.5%) dropped original major – 24% white vs. 26% non-white dropped
• 50% white remained in STEM vs. 40% non-white
– 22% continuing-gen vs. 45% first-gen dropped • 51% continuing-gen remained in STEM vs.
44% first-gen – 17% men vs. 27% women dropped
• 70% men remained in STEM vs. 44% women
STEM majors & retention • Primary reasons for dropping major
– Change in career aspirations – Concerns about GPA – Lack of interest in the material – Concerns about future career – Work/Life Balance – Class requirements – Lack of confident in the material – Difficulty interacting with faculty – Difficulty adjusting to college – Relationship with faculty – Misperception of the major 13
HOW DO WE IMPROVE RETENTION? …PARTICULARLY FOR WOMEN, FIRST-GENERATION, AND NON-WHITE STUDENTS?
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Institutional support has facilitated active learning approaches across
campus • Growth of number of classrooms equipped for
active learning • Growth in use of active learning classrooms
(ALCs) • Funding for ALCs through grants, capital
campaigns, and general fund • Committees formed to oversee ALC
implementation, use, and outcomes (LSIT) • Center for Teaching Excellence
– Active learning workshops – Active learning Faculty Fellow
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Why active learning?
• Interested in inclusive excellence – Started in STEM disciplines. Now
efforts to bring it campus-wide • Active Learning is recognized as a
High Impact Practice that engages students and can lead to better learning outcomes. It is also a practice encouraged for inclusive excellence.
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• Active learning lite (ALL) – multiple whiteboards and flexible seating
• Active learning classrooms (ALC) – multiple whiteboards, flexible seating with group-focused work, multiple display screens with Apple TV
• Active learning suites (ALS) – ALCs with Solstice Pods
Classifications of active learning classrooms at PC
Funding is actively pursued for the creation and/or renovation of active learning spaces • Proposal submitted to Champlain
Foundation for the renovation of space in a building on campus (Feinstein) – not successful
• Proposal to the Alden Trust for outfitting of an active learning space in the new Science Complex Addition – successful - $150k awarded
• Other spaces have been funded through general fund and capital campaigns 18
2010 – first flexible classroom (flexible
furniture, whiteboards, laptops)
2012 - Introduction of Apple TV to some
classrooms
2013 – New humanities building with flexible classrooms and group seminar space Instructional Technology Committee (ITeC) vision for “incubator classroom”
Development of active learning spaces on campus – a summary
2015 – team participation in U of Minnesota ALC Forum LSIT (Learning Spaces and Instructional Technology) Committee formed
2016 – Added monitors and whiteboards to two classrooms to facilitate group work in class
2017 – business building opens with multiple ALCs. Introduction
of Mersive Solstice Modification of additional
classrooms to facilitate active learning pedagogy
2018 – Science Complex addition opens with three
additional ALCs
Support of active learning has led to an increase in available spaces and
use
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Fall 2013
Spring 2014
Fall 2014
Spring 2015
Fall 2015
Spring 2016
Fall 2016
Spring 2017
Fall 2017
Spring 2018
Num
ber o
f Cla
ssro
oms
Total # Classrooms Active Learning Classrooms
ALCs have gone from <5% of available classrooms to over 10%.
Support of active learning has led to an increase in available spaces and
use
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Fall 2013 Spring 2014
Fall 2014 Spring 2015
Fall 2015 Spring 2016
Fall 2016 Spring 2017
Fall 2017 Spring 2018
Tota
l Enr
ollm
ent
Active Learning Lite
Active Learning Classrooms
Active Learning Suites
Usage has increased over 400%!
The Center for Teaching Excellence sponsors workshops that highlight
active learning • Active Learning Classroom Webinar - Mar 2015 • Designing an Active Learning Classroom – April
2015 • Teaching Tools: Why Active Learning? –
February 2016 • Course Design for Active Learning Classrooms –
December 2016 • Drive-Thru Active Learning – November 2017 • Perusall Presentation – December 2017 • Creating a Roadmap for Active Learning in the
Classroom – May 2018 • Increasing Student Engagement with Active
Learning – November 2018 26
Next generation reading assignments
Assign textbook sections Students annotate readings asynchronously
Conversation about material develops
Advantages of Perusall
• Similar to social media so it’s familiar to students
• Allows for interaction and engagement with material and classmates out of class
• Facilitates “flipping” of the classroom • Turns a solitary activity of reading text
into an engaging collaborative experience
You can see student initials here, but for students, all comments are anonymous to minimize stereotype threat and to encourage free participation.
Students can ask questions
Other students can answer the questions
Students can indicate if they find an answer helpful
Why Do Students Struggle? One Explanation: Mismatched Goals
• Independent Goals – Skills: learning to express oneself, learning
to be a leader – Motives: expand my understanding of the
world, explore new interests • Interdependent Goals
– Skills: learning to work together with others, learning to do collaborative research
– Motives: provide a better life for my own children, help my family out after I’m done with college
Mismatch in goals
Stephens et al., 2012
Motives for college based on race
*Data are based on psychology prescreening from 2016-2018 (851 White, 143 Non-white students)
Motives for college based on generational status
*Data are based on psychology prescreening from 2016-2018 (934 continuing-generation, 121 first-generation students)
Mismatch in goals: possible solutions
• Depict college as more interdependent (e.g., welcome packet)
Stephens et al., 2012
Mismatch in goals: possible solutions • Provide opportunities to hear about students’ experiences
• Explicitly linking adapting to college with social class.
Stephens et al., 2014
Our intervention • Planned pilot test with undeclared students
– First-generation vs. continuing generation – White vs. Non-White – Enrolled in first-year experience vs. Not
• Phase 1 (baseline measurements) – Goals for attending college – Perceived preparation – Academic identification – Academic efficacy – Personal mastery – Contingent self-esteem – Depression – Anxiety – Stress
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Phase 2—Intervention • Group sessions to view video testimonials from
eight students – Control group
• Trace your path for finding your major • What has been your favorite class and least
favorite class so far and why? – Difference-education group
• People come to college for many different reasons. What did coming to college mean for you?
• What experiences that you had prior to college prepared you to excel in way you wouldn't have anticipated at the time?
Phase 3--Intervention • Phase 3 – End of Semester Follow-Up
– Tendency to seek college resources – Perceptions of relationships with
students/faculty – Baseline measures
• Challenges – Participation & homogeneous
population – Administrative buy-in, particularly for
incentives – Timing 38
Discussion • Take two minutes to consider what you think
is the biggest concern/challenge for you, in your department and at your college/university, in terms of addressing inclusive excellence. Share a concrete example of why you believe this is the primary concern or challenge.
• Brainstorm about how you might address this
concern/challenge at your particular institution, either using similar methods as we presented here, or something different. What concrete steps could you start taking to implement this strategy? 39